with used and refurbished telecom equipment business · used and refurbished telecom equipment business
LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Acquisitions Anonymous.
Liquidation businesses can print money when they sit between corporate waste and secondary-market demand, especially if they control the disposal relationship.
A 90% repeat customer rate is only valuable if the repeat work comes from institutional processes, not just personal relationships with a few insiders.
A business with $4 million of revenue, $1.3 million of EBITDA, and 11 employees can look attractive on paper even when terminal demand is fading.
Office-phone liquidation is exposed to the same structural decline that has already pushed many workplaces to softphones, mobile apps, and fully remote workflows.
Inventory-heavy recycling businesses often create hidden working-capital risk because the buyer may overpay for stock the seller understands far better than they do.
If the seller can stay involved and share downside through an earnout or deferred payout, buyers can protect themselves against both demand decay and relationship risk.
Brokers are more likely to take buyers seriously when the buyer looks like a real acquisition platform with committed capital, not a tire kicker with a Gmail address.
A deal only qualifies when the price leaves enough margin of safety that the buyer can survive business deterioration and still earn an acceptable return. The hosts apply this idea to argue that this kind of asset deserves a much lower entry multiple than a stable recurring-revenue company.
When to use: Use when the business has major uncertainty around terminal value, customer stickiness, or structural demand decline.
When the buyer cannot confidently estimate a business risk, the price should push that uncertainty back onto the seller through deferred payments, earnouts, or other contingent consideration.
When to use: Use when future demand or customer concentration is too hard to underwrite cleanly.
The listing cited about $4 million of 2022 revenue and roughly $1.3 million of estimated EBITDA.
Bill and Michael read directly from the broker teaser.
The business had 100-plus active accounts and about 90% repeat business.
The hosts used these figures to assess whether the company had durable relationships or just one-off liquidation work.
The company operated from a 25,000-square-foot warehouse and had 11 full-time employees.
These operating details were used to highlight how capital-light the model appeared relative to revenue.
Between 2019 and 2021, the broker claimed an average EBITDA margin of 34.6%.
The hosts treated this as evidence of the niche’s profitability, while still worrying about durability.
The hosts thought the deal became interesting around 2.0x to 3.5x EBITDA, not at 5x to 8x.
They discussed acceptable pricing for a business with fading terminal demand.
Office vacancy in downtown San Antonio was described as roughly 30% to 50%.
Michael used the office market weakness as a reason to question long-term phone liquidation demand.
The business was presented as located in the Midwest and Great Lakes region, somewhere roughly between Cleveland and Milwaukee.
The hosts inferred geography from the listing text and broker location.
Lead with a real domain and company website when approaching brokers.
Why: Brokers screen for tire kickers, and a professional web presence makes a buyer look like an actual acquirer.
Show committed capital or a clearly credible financing path before asking for the CIM.
Why: Brokers want certainty that a buyer can close without a broken process or endless diligence loops.
Use a co-investor or known platform partner when you are a fundless sponsor.
Why: A recognizable capital partner can reduce broker skepticism and speed up access to deals.
Do not pay full price upfront when the business has unclear terminal demand.
Why: Earnouts and deferred consideration let the seller share the downside that the buyer cannot reliably price.
Underwrite inventory businesses using working-capital realism, not just reported EBITDA.
Why: The inventory may be valuable, but it can also be difficult to liquidate and expensive to carry.
Focus diligence on the customer list and procurement relationships, not just top-line margins.
Why: The difference between a durable platform and a hustle business is often whether customers are on formal vendor lists or just personal relationships.
Michael described a person who bought closeout clothing inventory from retailers, then opened a chain of stores that sold only those closeout goods. The example was used to show how buying the right wasted inventory at the right price can become a very large business.
Lesson: The best liquidation businesses often make money both on the buy side and the resale side.
Michael recounted a business model where waste cardboard was shipped back to China, reprocessed into packaging, and sold into manufacturing supply chains. The story highlighted how someone can get rich by turning someone else's waste stream into a supply chain advantage.
Lesson: Waste is only waste until you control the logistics and the buyer that values it.
The hosts described companies that charge restaurants to remove fryer oil, then clean it up and resell or convert it into biodiesel. The model earns money from both the service fee and the downstream commodity value.
Lesson: The strongest recycling businesses monetize disposal and resale at the same time.